Hundreds rally against Hong Kong police for arresting social workers trying to mediate during clashes with anti-government protesters
- Police have accused social workers and lawmakers of obstructing them, but groups claim they were just trying to help people who had been arrested
An estimated 400 people joined a rally on Monday to accuse police of disregarding the role of Hong Kong’s social workers, and arresting at least 14 of them who have mediated in clashes with anti-government protesters over the past three months.
The event in Edinburgh Place in Central, which organisers said was attended by 380 social work students and social workers at its peak, came two weeks after social worker Jackie Chen Hung-sau, who claimed she had been trying to defuse tensions at a protest, was arrested and charged with rioting, an offence punishable by 10 years in prison.
“Police officers have been using unreasonable charges to arrest frontline social workers, such as Chen, in the protests,” said Kelvin Chan, a 25-year-old social work student from Hong Kong College of Technology.
“They do not understand the roles of not only social workers, but also that of journalists and lawmakers.”
On Sunday night, Democratic Party lawmaker Ted Hui Chi-fung, who was seen telling officers not to use excessive force on protesters in North Point, was taken to a police station.
